“Do daughters feel differently about their mothers in situations of extremity, such as war or genocide? In this illuminating study of six autobiographical works by Jewish Holocaust victims or survivors, Federica Clementi shows that their mother-daughter relationships follow some of the same complex, ambivalent, contradictory, and ultimately devastating trajectories that characterize those in ordinary times. Yet in giving space and close attention to the intimate stories of women, Holocaust Mothers and Daughters discovers unexpected aspects of creativity and survival in times of catastrophe.” —Marianne Hirsch, Columbia University

An astonishing analysis of Jewish mother-daughter relations before, during, and after the Shoah as described in daughters memoirs

In this brave and original work, Federica Clementi focuses on the mother-daughter bond as depicted in six works by women who experienced the Holocaust, sometimes with their mothers, sometimes not. The daughters’ memoirs, which record the “all-too-human” qualities of those who were persecuted and murdered by the Nazis, show that the Holocaust cannot be used to neatly segregate lives into the categories of before and after. Clementi’s discussions of differences in social status, along with the persistence of antisemitism and patriarchal structures, support this point strongly, demonstrating the tenacity of trauma—individual, familial, and collective—among Jews in twentieth-century Europe.

“After reading [this book], it is impossible to think about Jewish Holocaust experiences without paying attention to gender, family ties, the centrality of mothers, and the distinct dynamics of mother-daughter bonds that shaped these writers’ existences—and presumably those of other women—during the war and thereafter.”—Alexandra Garbarini, Williams College

“Given its difficult subject, Holocaust Moth ers and Daughters is obviously not a casual read. Clementi makes the complicated topic accessible to those who have some back ground in the subject. And although readers may not be acquainted with most of the memoirists discussed in the book, much can be learned from Clementi’s analysis of their experiences. This is especially true for the last chapter, about Anne Frank, with whom most everyone will be familiar.”—Jewish Book Council

FEDERICA K. CLEMENTI is associate professor of English at the University of South Carolina.